Goodbye and Thank You!
VampChix - Exploring new worlds one bite at a time
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10M ago
 On Friday this blog will be deleted. Recently Blogger has decided to start censoring content and we have received numerous notifications of posts being pulled or being placed behind a 'permissions only' wall. They never tell you exactly what was offensive about the material. We can only guess. A review about a vampire book? Obviously, some words must have triggered an AI to freak out. Whatever. I cannot support a platform that censors. It's been many years since I've posted or any of the other VampChix participants have posted. But Margaret Carter has held strong and I thank her for her ..read more
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A Coldness in the Blood
VampChix - Exploring new worlds one bite at a time
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11M ago
In A COLDNESS IN THE BLOOD (2002), a modern-day installment of Fred Saberhagen's Dracula saga, set mainly in contemporary Chicago, Vlad Dracula is living under the name "Matthew Maule," after the character in THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES condemned to the curse that "God will give him blood to drink." As the story begins, college student Andy Keogh is setting up a website for the Count. After all, even the undead aristocracy must adjust to the new millennium. At this point, Andy has no idea that "Uncle Matt" is an old and powerful vampire. When Dickon, an even older but ludicrously cowardly no ..read more
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Dark Dance
VampChix - Exploring new worlds one bite at a time
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1y ago
In DARK DANCE (1992), celebrated science fiction and fantasy author Tanith Lee creates a twisted variation on the traditional Gothic love story with its mysterious, charismatic anti-hero, atmospheric, forbidding old house, and naive heroine. While not a conventional romance, DARK DANCE, first book of the Blood Opera trilogy, centering on the not-quite-human Scarabae clan, begins like a formulaic Gothic novel. The orphaned Rachaela is summoned to the isolated mansion of her father's peculiar family. There she meets her long-lost father, Adamus, who looks no more than thirty years old. Repeating ..read more
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By Blood Alone
VampChix - Exploring new worlds one bite at a time
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1y ago
After Anne Rice's bestselling INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (1976), having a vampire tell his or her story in his/her own voice became trendy. Not that Rice did it first; Fred Saberhagen's THE DRACULA TAPE (1975) beat her by a year. In a further refinement, some vampires reveal their past lives/unlives to therapists. Arguably, the first such novel (that I know of) was SOME OF YOUR BLOOD (1961), by Theodore Sturgeon, although the protagonist isn't a literal vampire but a human blood-drinker. Later, Suzy McKee Charnas did it in THE VAMPIRE TAPESTRY (1980) and S. P. Somtow in VAMPIRE JUNCTION (1984 ..read more
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Horror Stories of M. R. James
VampChix - Exploring new worlds one bite at a time
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1y ago
Most horror fans have probably come across the classic ghost stories of M. R. James (1865-1936). Some of the most often anthologized pieces first appeared in his GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY. Several more comprehensive collections of James's fiction are in print; I recommend CASTING THE RUNES AND OTHER GHOST STORIES, published by the Oxford University Press, which features a detailed introduction as well as twenty-one stories. Many of them focus on antiquarian characters and take place in ecclesiastical or other ancient settings. "Casting the Runes," an account of supernatural vengeance by a ..read more
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Holiday Greetings
VampChix - Exploring new worlds one bite at a time
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1y ago
Happy longest-nights season -- ideal for vampires! If you're in the mood for a mashup of the undead and winter holidays, check out A VAMPIRE CHRISTMAS CAROL, which I reviewed on this blog in January 2022: A Vampire Christmas Carol Also, you might enjoy my December-set vampire novel CHILD OF TWILIGHT, which concludes on Christmas Eve. (No, it has nothing to do with a certain bestselling series. The first edition of mine was published earlier.) Although it's the direct sequel to DARK CHANGELING, it's readable on its own. Both books are now available together as a Kindle omnibus titled TWILIGHT'S ..read more
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The Ghost Stories of E. F. Benson
VampChix - Exploring new worlds one bite at a time
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1y ago
NIGHT TERRORS: THE GHOST STORIES OF E. F. BENSON (2012) constitutes a collection of over fifty works by a classic early-twentieth-century author. It includes fiction from many different subcategories of horror, naturally. However, among them you'll find his vintage vampire stories. "The Face" introduces a happily married woman who has suffered a pair of recurring dreams for many years. In the first, she approaches the graveyard of a ruined church on a cliff above the sea. In the second, the true nightmare, she reaches the cemetery, where she confronts the leering face of a man who declares he ..read more
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Generation V
VampChix - Exploring new worlds one bite at a time
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1y ago
In GENERATION V (2013), M. L. Brennan designs a naturally evolved vampire species that's unique in at least one aspect of its biology, as far as I know. Fortitude, the protagonist, strenuously but ineffectively strives to reject the heritage of his species in favor of leading a quasi-human existence. He has a college degree in an impractical major, a job at a coffee shop, an unfaithful girlfriend, and an obnoxious roommate. Unlike most stereotypical Gen X bachelors coping with their first experiences of “real life,” however, he belongs to a family of vampires. Not having yet made the “transiti ..read more
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Empire of Fear
VampChix - Exploring new worlds one bite at a time
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1y ago
Brian Stableford portrays vampirism as a contagious disease in THE EMPIRE OF FEAR (1988). A version of the first section was published in THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION under the title "The Man Who Loved the Vampire Lady." An epic work of alternate history, EMPIRE OF FEAR takes place mainly in seventeenth-century Europe and Africa, as the Renaissance inaugurates the beginnings of modern science. The main but not exclusive viewpoint character for most of the story, Noell Cordery, devotes his career to researching the biological origin of vampirism. Interludes in the form of inserte ..read more
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Jacob
VampChix - Exploring new worlds one bite at a time
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1y ago
Okay, like the book highlighted here last month, JACOB: A NOVEL OF THE NIGHTSIDERS (2015), by David Gerrold, is less than ten years old, too. However, it's also a vampire novel many fans might have missed, somewhat unusual and well worth checking out. This slender (just under 200 pages) but intriguing book comes from the author of the classic STAR TREK script “The Trouble with Tribbles” and many other SF works. The narrative invokes an obviously deliberate parallel to Rice’s INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, as the title character applies the label “interview” to his conversations with the narrator ..read more
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